Hola, Alex and Tom. Yes first post...been lurking for quite a while but had to comment on your trip. Me and three friends have been planning to ride the same path you are doing for over a year now and have a leave date of september (sometime). Consider yourselves subscribed, and I am greatly looking foreward to reading your RR as I near my own date of departure. Have an absolute blast and depending on the routes we take maybe we can meet down south for a few cervezas. Ride safe.

Hey Al, Uncle Warren here. Man, you've got my juices flowing. I'm ready to come join you now. I figure I can Iron Butt it and meet you at the border in a day and a half. Too bad I have to work. I've got 10 days scheduled on the Guzzi in June and that will have to scratch that itch.

Ahhh, we went to bed late last night. Tom straight up passed out. He looked like this when he went to bed
And some during the night he underwent a metamorphosis.
We woke up at about 9am this morning. No rush for anyone around. Yes, we planned to reached L.A. today, but so what. 432 miles down Highway 101… 8 hours. Easy.
I wanted to make sure I fit into my new sleeping bag fit. Did I mention? I’m 6’6”. I Fit!
And Tom had to catch up on the local entertainment and news. (Victoria’s Secret)
We had to take a jaunt up the staircase to the Roof again. It’s a nice view.
Notice Brady’s computer engineer/programmer roommate, working from home on the deck. Aged 24 like the rest of us.
Get a parting photo.
Back down the stairs! Watch your head!
We left Tom’s friend Brady’s apartment in San Francisco this morning at around 10:45 and headed straight for the R.E.I. to exchange a waterproof stuff sack that I bought, for a bigger one. Tom bought 15 feet of bungee cord. For miscellaneous tie downs. We didn’t leave the R.E.I until Noon. Shit.
We proceeded to haul ass for 60-70 miles at a go. 65+Mph all the time. Until we realized that we hadn’t eaten much of anything since the night before.
Time for food. Tom had Beef Curry, I had a Beef Rice Bowl. We didn’t realize until we entered, but we chose to stop for food at a Japanese Grocery Mart. We were two of less than 10 Caucasian people of 400+ Japanese. It was like we stepped into Japan! The food was good too!
Alright, then we hauled some more ass. 77 miles this time around. We have a habit of just telling the other person (via the Bluetooth headsets) that we want to pull over. So we pull over anywhere ,
preferably at a place with grass, so we can just
After our last jaunt through the sunny valleys of the coastal California highway 101, we were getting pretty tired already. We slept poorly, and had already ridden 140 miles. Soon enough, it started to get colder as well. We left San Fran and it was 70*. Tom removed his waterproof and thermal pant and jacket liners. I removed my thermal ones. We were glad we had when the temps reached the low 80’s. But, of course with the cloudless sunshine comes the cold clear nights. Sooner than later the temps dropped back to 60 degrees, and with just our jacket armor on, we had to toss on some warmer clothing underneath.
Toms chose his long johns! I chose a micropuff down jacket.
We stopped more than once. Riding into headwinds, on single cylinder thumpers, at 65+ miles an hour, for hours at a time, is tireing to say the least. It sucks.
But! We arrived in Glendale (L.A.) three hours ago, and promptly met up Charlie, the Australian, riding a 2010 Yamaha Tenere 660. We’ve been in contact with him over the past week or so, and planned to meet up when we arrived here. No pictures of that yet, you’ll have to wait.
We’re tired as hell. 432 widing slow miles. About 9 hours of riding. The last 2 hours were in the pitch black. It was rough going the last 120 miles or so. But we’re safe and sound at a RodeWay Inn.
We’re heading to San Diego tomorrow, and will stay there tomorrow night with a friend from High School.. Thursday will mark entry into Mexican territory. It should be good!
More to come!

Nice!The ride down the CA coast is one of the best ever,Its good you guys have the semi relaxed pace going,hurrying through all the time makes you miss some great sights. Best of luck in LA! Always an experience getting through there.

I have upgraded my photo storage account. Hopefully my photo's will load soon/become valid. We're currently in San Diego, staying at a high school friends apartment. His name is Chad. We head to Ensenada B.C, Mexico tomorrow.

I have upgraded my photo storage account. Hopefully my photo's will load soon/become valid. We're currently in San Diego, staying at a high school friends apartment. His name is Chad. We head to Ensenada B.C, Mexico tomorrow.

More to come soon.

--Alex

San Diego is hands down the best place I have ever been, and I dont think I could ever spend enough time there

__________________
Look. Lean. Believe.

Motorcycling is the pursuit of life through motion, sometimes at speed, during which the sum total of one’s existence is defined in the conflict between centrifugal force and gravity.

We didn’t get on the road till about 3pm. But in the mean time, meet Charlie, the Australian!

Charlie has been in the States for 3 months. He was only here for 5 days before he had a nice run in with a pickup truck. Luckily he was carrying full coverage insurance and it covered him completely. He’s staying with a family friend named Bill. A self proclaimed semi retired management company owner. Only bothers managing his personal properties now. He was an awesome guy! He fed us cheese and crackers with apples and beer the night we met him, and bagels with cream cheese with coffee the next day. Meet Bill.

Charlie, Tom, and I spent the morning sorting through our belongings, trying to repack, reorganize, and better sort our shit. It worked… For the most part. I still feel like I have too much stuff. Charlie is overloaded, and Tom is on the fence. This process will continue for the next many months to come. Things will come and go. We already know this.

Well. After that, Tom realized that he left his fuel petcock on, and his float bowls stuck. It flooded his bike. This of course is hindsight. What we did to fix the problem consisted of, removing the side covers, seat, gas tank and finally the carburetor. Then we took off the carb float bowl cover. This was a process in itself as the screws were stuck, and after beating the hell out of them, they had to be replaced with some spares. Yes we had some spares. We’re prepared. Eagle Scout style. Then we found out nothing was gummed up in his carb. Damnit. It ran well after that, all the way to San Diego, our destination for the day, and where we currently are now.
We met up with Chad, a high school friend of Tom and myself. He’s an Electrical Engineer and has an apartment near San Diego State University. Awesome. Soon after arriving, we headed to a local spot for some beers.

Meet Chad.

See his apartment and all of our things laid out. When we arrived. He cooked us food! We had burritos. A place to sleep and free food. Thanks Chad! You're part of the Adventure. (Don't forget about Tom's dad's friend Tom either. He did the same!)

Finally, we found a nice place to sleep. I got dibs on the couch. Saweeeet.

The traffic on the way here was the only challenging bit of the day (besides Tom’s temperamental bike.) Having the Bluetooth com units was nice when Charlie unleashed his Aussie prowess and rode a few shoulders, and passed a few cars via lane splitting during traffic jams. I was plenty willing to keep up. Tom on the other hand is wider, and less experienced, and thus unwilling (rightfully so). It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see him, I just had to ask him where he was. Problem solved.
We plan to cross to Mexico tomorrow, and make it to Ensenada, Baja California. We need to pick up a package for Tom at the post office (bike registration and title), grab some spare spark plugs at a shop, and be on our way. We can’t wait to find a cheap place to hang out for a while to enjoy our time at a slower pace. Mexican time. YES!
--Alex